MG 7 spied: Chinese brand wants to show mid-size cars can still be cool

MG’s sleek new Toyota Camry and Hyundai Sonata rival has been spied Down Under, ahead of its local launch in October 2025.

Images shared by CarExpert reader Lindsay show the mid-size MG 7 liftback in a parking lot in Canberra.

And for those who love paint colours, there’s good news – this evaluation vehicle is finished in the rich metallic green offered in China, suggesting this hue will be offered locally.

The MG 7 is also offered with black, grey, white and red exterior finishes in China.

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What remains to be seen is whether the bold interior colours offered in China will also make their way here.

It’s a bit hard to tell due to the lighting, but the evaluation vehicle appears to have a dark green interior. MG also offers a rich red interior, as well as a more conservative black.

“Some of the colourful interiors are very colourful. We’re working through that at the moment, but I don’t think we will launch some of the colourful ones that they have over there,” MG Motor Australia chief commercial officer Giles Belcher told CarExpertearlier this year.

“With a lot of these things, they look amazing. But most people will end up defaulting to something sensible, unfortunately.

“But some of them do look cool. So always, we’ll look at it. We consider it. I think we’ll have a go at a couple and bring in a couple of alternate colours.”

The box of Kleenex on the rear parcel shelf gives us Toyota Camry Uber vibes, but the MG 7 won’t be offered here with the kind of thrifty hybrid powertrain rideshare drivers love.

Instead, the MG 7’s sportier positioning will see it offered exclusively with petrol power. We’ll miss out on the turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine available in China and instead get only the larger 2.0-litre turbo four… but there’s a catch.

Government certification documents published in June list a power output of 170kW from the MG 7’s 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine, which is mated with a nine-speed automatic transmission. These documents don’t list torque figures.

In China, MG 7s with the 2.0-litre engine produce 192kW and 405Nm but, unusually, the mid-sizer’s outputs vary from market to market. In the UAE, for example, it produces 184kW and 405Nm.

The 170kW output suggests the MG 7 could produce the same 370Nm of torque as MG HS mid-size SUVs equipped with the 2.0-litre engine in markets like the UAE.

It’s not the only MG model to be detuned for export markets, with MG QS large SUV producing 153kW/360Nm – down from 178kW/392Nm in the related Roewe RX9 in China.

The approval documents list a pair of trim levels for the MG 7, both riding on 19-inch alloy wheels.

Available features in China, depending on the variant, include an electronic limited-slip differential, adaptive dampers, an adaptive three-stage electric rear wing, an augmented-reality head-up display, 14-speaker Bose sound system, 256-colour ambient lighting, and heated and power-adjustable front seats.

Inside, all MG 7s feature a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system and a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster situated in the same assembly.

The launch of the MG 7 is part of an ambitious lineup expansion as MG looks to become a top three brand by the end of the decade.

This year alone, it has launched a pair of more premium electric vehicles (the IM5 liftback and IM6 SUV) and a large three-row SUV (the QS), with a ute (the U9) to follow by year’s end.

It has also replaced the ZS EV small electric SUV with the MG S5 EV, while next year it’ll add a new mid-size electric SUV in the MG S6 EV.

The MG 7 will mark the first time MG has offered a passenger car this size in Australia since it came under Chinese ownership, and it’s effectively a belated successor for the old British MG ZT sedan.

MG isn’t expecting high volumes with its first mid-sizer in Australia.

“We think it will resonate well in Australia. Again, we’re not chasing Camry volume with it. It’s a performance fastback sedan that looks epic, so we believe there’s a place for it, so we’re gonna have a go,” MG Motor Australia chief commercial officer Giles Belcher told CarExpert in March.

“People buy sedans if they’re, I suppose, practical enough for them. Or the flipside is, are they design cool? We believe ours is practical and design cool.”

The number of combustion-powered medium-to-large passenger cars offered in Australia by mass-market brands has shrunk dramatically in recent years.

There are now just five: the Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Skoda Octavia and Superb, and Toyota Camry.

Various other models have been discontinued both locally and in many cases globally in recent years. These include the Ford Mondeo, Mazda 6, Peugeot 508, and Volkswagen Passat and Arteon.

There has been some recent activity in the electric space, though, with the arrival of the BYD Seal and MG IM5. As expected, much of this activity has been from Chinese brands as sedans remain popular in the world’s largest auto market.

MORE: Expert Insights: Q&A with Giles Belcher, MG Australia’s chief commercial officer